Favourite food: Larkin enjoys eating just about anything and everything including all fruits and vegetables, especially Kale and Collards.

Personality:

Larkin lives up to her registered name - she's a bubbly, energetic and lively dog! Her personality is a perfect mix of both of her parents and she likes nothing better than to engage in any kind of play or training with us. As a single puppy, we were a bit worried that she might have some behavioural issues, but apart from a couple of very minor quirks, she seems to be a perfectly normal dog with a super temperament. She gets along well with all other dogs and particularly enjoys puppies. She is a "howler" and likes to serenade us in the mornings when she thinks it is time to get up!

Working Ability:

Larkin LOVES to work! She is a manic retriever and very quick to learn new things, so quick that we have to be careful not to make any mistakes in training! She easily passed the WC test at 11 months old, twice in a row, at our FCRSC specialty. We introduced her to hunting in the fall of 2014 and she did a great job retrieving snow geese. In 2015 she stepped into the role of primary hunting dog, retrieving numerous geese and ducks. Larkin has a US JH leg and a Judges Award of Merit in the FCRSA 2016 Unsteady Singles B event. She also enjoys obedience, she easily passed her Pre-Novice and Novice obedience titles in three straight trials and we are now working on Open obedience. In 2017 she zipped through rally novice, advanced and excellent,, winning many high in classes and ending out the year as the number 1 flat-coated retriever in rally obedience.

Conformation:

As a baby puppy, we weren't quite sure what to make of Larkin's conformation - she was rather an ugly duckling. Perhaps this was in part because she didn't have the physical stimulation of littermates? But we were so hooked on her personality, we held on to her. As she matured, things came together and much to our delight we have exceptionally sound movement, good structure and super breed type! At first we wrote her off as "not a show dog", but she surprised us by winning Best Puppy in Sweepstakes at the 2014 FCRSC specialty under breeder-judge Dinah Baggenstos. She has had some big wins at all-breed shows and completed her championship in July 2015 by winning best of breed over specials at the Westwinds Sporting Dog Specialty. She went on to become Blazingstar's first CKC Grand Champion in early 2016 and racked up four group placements with limited showing, including a Group 1st. In 2016 she was the 2nd Flat-coated Retriever bitch in Canada and 6th overall.

Larkin has always had a gorgeous coat and plenty of it, as well as a pretty head. She has terrific feet, a lovely rear and topline and her front construction is good. We would like to see a little more bone and a slightly darker eye, but her eye is darkening as she ages.